About Cloth Masks in Face of the Coronavirus Pandemic
- elisabeth morgan
- Apr 13, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 14, 2020
While hospitals and healthcare workers need medical-grade surgical masks and n95 masks, citizens and essential workers can use cloth masks to prevent touching the face with contaminated hands. Here are our recommendations.
There has been some general confusion about the efficacy of cloth masks after the American government suggested we wear them in public on April 3rd. In short, cloth masks can discourage the spread of spittle in the general public, but healthcare workers need the additional protective seal of n95 masks, face shields, and other PPE. Consider this from Kevin Tsai, MD, one of our medical advisors here at DonatePPE:
"Do cloth masks prevent infection? On their own, not necessarily. Do they DISCOURAGE SPREAD of spit droplets? Certainly. Do they ENCOURAGE GOOD FACE CLEANLINESS PRACTICES like avoiding touching the nose and mouth. Yes." - Kevin Tsai, MD
While we don't endorse any specific cloth masks, we have sent tons of willing volunteers to our partners over at Mask Force, a leading effort in DIY mask making.
We've also been hugely inspired and encouraged by companies who have jumped into action, learning how to create face masks in face of the pandemic. Two such brands are Montce Swim (not yet available) and the LA-based denim company Citizens of Humanity, who are in the process of re-stocking their high quality cloth masks for the general public.
“We can recommend people to check out sites that have been selling cloth masks from our partners at Citizens of Humanity, Norwex, or Etsy shops like Sewby USA,” said Karen Tsai, MD of DonatePPE.
Suggested Resources
Check out these other useful sources we've found around the web for creating or purchasing cloth masks. Please email us at elisabeth@donateppe.org if you have additional suggestions!
DIY Cloth Mask
Make your own face masks via Reading My Tea Leaves
Mask Force is a resource for manufacturing DIY masks
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